Batman Welcomes a New Artist

After the conclusion of the current Court of Owls storyline in Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo's Batman, issue #12 will feature a stand-alone tale that will act as a bit of a breather before Snyder and Capullo kick things off with another huge story. CBR has reported that Becky Cloonan, artist of DEMO and Conan the Barbarian, will be the artist lending her talents to issue #12. As we've absolutely adored her work on Conan, this is exciting news.

Snyder told CBR, "What I love about Becky's work is that she can get incredibly dark – and even incredibly violent with things like Conan – but it's always expressive. It's always so character-driven and driven by the psychology of the piece. It's almost deceptively quiet." In addition, Snyder confirmed that issue #12 would explore the story of Harper -- the young woman that helped Batman after he escaped the Court's labyrinth. The writer says that the issue aims to depict the life of a regular Gothamite, particularly one that lives in one of the dingier portions of the city.

"She's someone who's a real fighter who's been through a lot and is very independent," Snyder said of Harper. "She's a teenager who's emancipated from her parents trying to make a living and go to school and help her younger brother out. She's someone who's very important to me and important to Gotham in the stories I want to tell moving forward."

Batman #12 will also feature a back-up story, this time drawn by Batman and Robin verteran Andy Clarke. And fear not, Capullo fans, the artist will be returning to the book after issue #12 to continue on with another big story by he and Snyder.

Batman #12 goes on sale in August. For more with Snyder, you can head over to CBR.

Joey is IGN's Comics Editor and a comic book creator himself. Follow Joey on Twitter, or find him on IGN. He will love Star Wars until the end of his days.